US Government Recognizes Site of Former Slave Prison

Most visitors easily recognize Washington, D.C., landmarks such as the U.S. Capitol or the White House. However, many might not know these and other iconic structures in the nation’s capital were built by black slaves during one of the darkest chapters in American history.

More than a century-and-a-half after slavery was abolished in the United States, the hardships and sacrifices blacks endured are being recognized.

Outside a sprawling U.S. government office building not far from the Capitol, two historical markers were unveiled, pointing silently to the site of a notorious slave prison where hundreds of black men, women and children were confined, waiting to be sent to white slave owners.